Cordyceps odonatae Kobayasi, Bull. Natn. Sci. Mus., Tokyo, B 7:6 (1981)

Anamorph state: Hymenostilbe sp.

No description

Specimens were found on a twig or branch of dicotyledonous forest plants close to rivers. Hosts are adult dragonflies (Odonata) The fungus produces cream to orange capitate stromata on the abdominal segments and the thorax of the dragonfly, mostly 2 or more on each segment, ca. 5 mm long and 300-500 μm in diam., erect. The fertile perithecial plate is at the apex of the stroma. Perithecia narrowly ovoid, pseudo-immersed with dense mycelia surrounding each perithecium, 845-925 μm long, 250-275 μm wide. Asci filiform, 540-560 x 5 μm; Ascospores readily disintegrating into part-spores while still in the ascus, 7.5-10 x 2.5 μm. Colonies on PDA are slow-growing if they grow at all, attaining a diam. of less than 10 mm in 1 mo at 25°C. Colonies floccose, at first white changing to yellow or light brown with age. Reported as a rather common species infecting dragonflies in temperate Northern Asian countries, Ophiocordyceps odonatae is a rare species in Thailand. During a twenty-year survey of Thai forests, it was found twice and only in Khao Yai National Park. A single specimen was collected in July 2002 and another one in June 2008.